Greg Trupiano Bench Dedication at Fort Greene Park
On Monday, August 16, as the sun set at the top of Fort Greene Park, a bench was dedicated to Greg Trupiano. Greg was an extraordinary Whitman public scholar, director of Brooklyn’s beloved Walt Whitman Project, Whitman Initiative member and dear friend. His longtime partner Lon Black gave a memorial presentation at the dedication, and Brooklyn-based contralto Nicole Mitchell sang at the event in his honor. Many in attendance spoke of the impact that Greg had had on their lives and of his dedication to Whitman and the city he loved to walk in. He will be sorely missed yet this spot will always serve as a gathering place for friends to celebrate Greg’s life.
The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow’d wilds,
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.
Brooklyn-based contralto Nicole Mitchell performs at the bench dedication ceremony
